Local

The title of top golfer in Los Alamos County is once again up for grabs this weekend.
Los Alamos Golf Course will host the City Championship tournament starting Saturday. The City tournament is a two-day affair consisting of 36 holes of stroke play.
Based on the race for last year’s men’s title, anything can happen between the first day and the second day.
In 2013, City tournament veteran Ted Ball fired a 2-under 70 in the first round and, going into the clubhouse, had a 4-shot advantage over his closest opponent, Cale Jones.
But Jones came back in the second round, equaling Ball’s day one total. Unfortunately for Ball, he struggled in the second day, managing only an 88, and no one else came within 3 shots of Jones’ day two total.
Jones’ combined two-day score of 144 was enough for him to cruise to a 9-shot victory over Brad King and Jonathan War, who tied for second.
The tournament consists of several handicapped flights. There were 61 entries into last year’s tournament, although there were also several withdrawals.
Along with the men’s competition, there is also the women’s City tournament, which is hosted by the Los Alamos Women’s Golf Association.

Nikol Strother won her second Pace Race in a calendar month Tuesday, and did so with a prediction error that’s very tough to beat.
Strother finished with an error of just 1 second on the 3-mile course at the Pace Race, which started at Rocket Park in White Rock. Strother was also the fastest female finisher on the long course Tuesday with her time of 19 minutes, 41 seconds.
Also on the 3-mile course, Ted Romero finished in 19:47 and was the second-best predictor, missing by just 5 seconds.
Roy Cope had the next best prediction, 6 seconds off, and Heather Hughes finished 19 seconds off her time.
The fastest finishes on the 1-mile course were Tad Hughes (6:12) and Marin Kelly (6:41).
The next Pace Race will be Tuesday starting at the Quemazon Montessori School. Race time is 6 p.m. and 1- and 3-mile courses will be available.
For more information, call 672-1639 or visit the Atomic City Roadrunners’ website, atomicrunners.com.

It’s just about that time.
Los Alamos High School’s fall sports programs are ramping up for the start of the 2014 season. Los Alamos, and the rest of the prep programs in the state, will officially begin football workouts Monday.
Team workouts for football start one week earlier than other fall sports in the state. Official workouts for all other fall high school sports, as well as middle school football, get going Aug. 11.
In order to participate, athletes must have physical examinations completed — those must be done after April 1 — and must fill out the online forms at Los Alamos’ Family ID website. Those must be done before any athlete is allowed to participate in any way.
For the Hilltopper football team, it will start workouts at 8 a.m. Monday at its practice field adjacent to Griffith Gymnasium.
Los Alamos will host a preseason scrimmage against a very good program in Valencia Aug. 22, then open its season in earnest at home against Pojoaque Valley Aug. 29.
In 2013, Los Alamos finished 4-6 overall and 3-1 in District 2-4A, losing the district championship in a tiebreaker to Santa Fe.

Alex Kirk, former Los Alamos and University of New Mexico star, will host an autograph session at Chili Works Saturday.
The autograph session is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday. Those interested in getting an autograph are encouraged to bring their own items to sign.
The session will go until noon at Chili Works.

Football practice starts Monday

Fall 2014 Los Alamos High School football practice officially begins Monday.
Practice will start at 8 a.m. Monday at the field adjacent to Griffith Gymnasium.
Practice is open to any students entering grades 9-12.
Those interested in participating in the 2014 football season must have their physical examinations and necessary paperwork completed before they will be allowed to practice.
Information on what is needed from players prior to the start of the season can find it at topperfootball.com or on the LAHS athletic website, laschools.net.

The foursome of Ian Maes, Mike Maes, KayLinda Crawford and Chris Ortega were the big winners at Saturday’s Big Brothers Big Sisters Drive for Matches Tournament.
The tournament, a fundraiser for BBBS of Northern New Mexico, was a best ball scramble format. In all, 97 golfers participated in the third annual event.
Maes/Maes/Crawford/Ortega shot a combined 20-under par 52, the top gross score of the day. That group edged out two other teams. John Stam, Pearl Cha, Gary Rich and Bethany Rich were two shots behind, as was the team of Art Brown, Myron Koop, Jeff Brown and Larry Goen.
Stam/Cha/Rich/Rich won a tiebreaking chip-off for second place.
Other top-finishing teams included Randy Vaughn/Tanner Vaughn/Don Branch/James Merhege, which finished with the low net score of 53, as well as the team of Steve Sanderson/Brianna Sanderson/Eddie Sanchez/Barbara Schmitt, which had a combined net score of 54.

Tony Ballard and Warapha Prime topped the singles charts at last weekend’s Los Alamos Tennis Club’s championship tournament.
The two-day tournament attracted about 30 players, mostly from Los Alamos County. The tournament was played at Urban Park.
Ballard earned the LATC men’s championship with a straight-set victory in the finals over Bill Robertson. The two men slugged it out through a tight first set, but Ballard prevailed 7-6.
In the second set, Ballard earned a 6-3 decision to take the title.
In the women’s championship, Prime, who won the tournament in 2012, topped Lauren Fugate in Sunday’s final, also in straight sets. Prime earned a 6-2, 6-2 win.
There were seven different draws this weekend.
Prime won a second title along with doubles partner Joel Williams. Prime/Williams tripped up Tom Kelley/Marlene Kelley in the mixed B doubles final, 6-4, 6-2.
Kelley/Kelley won the draw in 2013.
Also earning a top finish in the men’s over 50 bracket was Jeff Whicker. Whicker came back from a set down against Sergey Kurennoy, with Kurennoy taking the first set 6-2, but Whicker rebounding to win the second set 6-2.
In the tiebreaker, Whicker held off his opponent, 10-6.

Alex Kirk, former Los Alamos and University of New Mexico star, will host an autograph session at Chili Works Saturday.
The autograph session is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday. Those interested in getting an autograph are encouraged to bring their own items to sign.
The session will go until noon at Chili Works.

Wrestling clinic starts Monday

The Family YMCA of Los Alamos is offering a wrestling skills clinic starting Monday.
The purpose of the course is to help youth participants develop wrestling fundamentals.
The clinic is for boys and girls ages 5-12. Wrestlers will be matched with other wrestlers who have similar abilities.
Price for participation is $40. The clinic continues through Friday.
For more information, call the YMCA at 662-3100.

Baseball tryouts set for Aug. 9-10

The Albuquerque Baseball Academy will hold fall tryouts Aug. 9-10. The tryouts will be at Lobo Field on the University of New Mexico campus
The Aug. 9 tryout will be for high school freshmen and sophomores, while the Aug. 10 tryout will be for juniors and seniors.
Players selected for the team will compete in several tournaments around the Southwest region.
For more information, email Ryan Brewer at abafallinfo@gmail.com.

The Los Alamos junior softball All-Star team will advance to the southwestern regional playoffs this coming weekend.
Los Alamos’ juniors — comprised of 13-14 year olds — will take on a team from Colorado in the opening round of the tournament Saturday.
The tournament will be played at Alto Park in Santa Fe.
For the regionals, the host district’s champion gets an automatic bid into the tournament. Los Alamos plays in District 1 along with Little Leagues representing Santa Fe, Española and Pojoaque. Los Alamos advanced after Española couldn’t field a team to play for the District 1 title.
Along with Los Alamos’ All-Stars, two teams from Texas and a team from Louisiana will also be vying for the regional title. Also taking part is Las Vegas, which won the New Mexico state title this year.
The winner of the southwestern regional playoff will advance to the Little League World Series.
If Los Alamos wins its opener, scheduled for 10:30 a.m., it will play again at 1:30 p.m. If not, Los Alamos will play an elimination game at 10 a.m. Sunday.
The tournament is double-elimination format and continues through Wednesday in Santa Fe.

Gilbert Ratliff was on the winning side of two doubles contests Saturday.
Ratliff, who with one of his doubles partners, John Charles, advanced to the final round of the men’s A draw, and with his other partner, his daughter, Sidra Hsieh-Ratliff, advanced to the final of the A mixed doubles. Both of those contests are set for Sunday at Urban Park.
The LATC started its two-day tournament Saturday morning. In this year’s tournament are seven different age and gender draws.
Heading into Saturday afternoon’s play, Geoff Mills and Justin Chang had advanced to the semifinals of the men’s A singles draw, with both of them winning in straight sets.
Mills topped Cihan Akcay 6-2, 6-1 in his first round contest, while Chang, a hard-swinging, hard-serving newcomer to the tournament, swept Alex Tarra 6-0, 6-1.
More than 30 participants are taking part in this year’s tournament.
In the top men’s doubles flight, Ratliff/Charles is seeking its second straight LATC championship. Ratliff/Charles defeated Forrest White/George Margevicius in the finals of last year’s tournament.
In mixed doubles, Ratliff/Hsieh-Ratliff knocked off Mike Fugate/Lauren Fugate 6-0, 6-2 to advance to that draw’s championship round.

Logan Ott was the top individual finisher in the third installment of the Los Alamos Triatomics’ Splash and Dash event.
The Splash and Dash, a bi-weekly event hosted by the Triatomics’ multi-sport club, is geared primarily for those who are training for the Los Alamos Triathlon. The triathlon is scheduled for Aug. 16.
Ott finished in a time of 29 minutes, 20 seconds on the long course, which consists of a 400-yard swim followed by a 5-kilometer run. He topped Kim Katko, an elite-level women’s triathlon racer, by 25 seconds on the longer course.
On the shorter course, which features a 200-yard swim and a 4K run, Matt Anderson was the top finisher. He posted a time of 17:17.
There is one more Splash and Dash for the season, that is scheduled for Aug. 6. The Splash and Dash is held in and around the Larry R. Walkup Aquatic Center.
The event is free, but day-of registration is required. Registration starts at 6:20 p.m. and the race begins at 7 p.m.

Here are the results from Wednesday’s Splash and Dash (swim time, run time, total time):